To George Washington from Marie-Jeanne-Jacqueline-Antoinette Pernot, 12 January 1797
From Marie-Jeanne-Jacqueline-Antoinette Pernot
Paris. January the 12th 1797.
Mr President
allow an ancient inhabitant of America, who has had the honor of knowing you, when she was at Philadelphia,1 to break in one moment upon your important business, to claim from you the Justice, which She is threatened not to obtain from the tribunals. as president of congress your are to cause the laws of your country to be faithfully executed: and it is their strict execution I claim. give me leave to let you know some of the particulars.
in 1786 I married in france Mr Le Couteulx de caumont. one article of our marriage act, Stated explicetely, that my marriage portion amounting nearly to the sum of 51 thousand french livres, would be employed in purchasing a real estate in America.2 a fortnight after my wedding, I embarked with Mr Le Couteulx, and arrived soon at Philadelphia. I bought then a farm near Trenton.3 in 1789 I returned in france with My husband. the Climate of America disagreed with my health, and I wished to live in my family, from which I was separrated very young. Consequently before my departure, I had given to a Justice of the peace in the neighborhood of Trenton a power of Attorney to sell my farm, and forward me the price of it in france. a month after my arrival at Paris, Mr le Couteulx determined himself to set out again for Philadelphia; in order, said he, to quicken the sale of our estate.4 I remained alone in France with two children, whom I had from him.5 Since that time, that is to say, since the month of february 1790, I never heard any thing from Mr le Couteulx.6 Since that time, he enjoys my whole estate, and has never forwarded me the least part of it. my family has provided for my existence, and that of my children, So cruelly given up by their father. I then took advantage from the new laws of the republic; I obtained my divorce, and I married again.7 according to the Same laws, a family-assembly appointed to pronounce on the fate of my two children has decided that they would be both entrusted to my care, fir[s]t because of the aknowledged incapacity of the father to provide their education and then in consideration of the fortune, which is entirely on my side, since Mr le Couteulx had nothing when he married but the name of a family then of credit in Commerce.8 those different regulations being finished, I employed myself about the reimbursement of my marriage portion; which in case of a separation, was fully to be made to me, according to an express article of my marriage contract. I have, in consequence of the advice of Mr Munroe Minister of the united States, sent my power of attorney, and all my other papers to Mr Edward Livingston of New-york, member of congress. he is entrusted with the pursuit of that affair. I know him only from the recommendation of Mr Monroe who spoke to me in very high terms of his abilities and probity. I have reasons to fear now that the family of mr Le Couteulx, and even some of my own, would have influence enough to silence the laws, which are all in my favour. they wish my property to stay in America, under pretense that it would be there safer than in France, and that So, the fate of my children would be more secure. that calculation is nothing to my eyes but a contrivance to avoid for ever the restitution of my property: and nobody can have a right to prevent my doing of it what I please. that property is mine, and will be the children’s property only after my death. besides I am intrusted with the care of their education, to get them settled: how can I do that, if the only property which I possess, stays in the hands of Mr Le Couteulx, who since seven years, has not deigned to trouble himself about them or myself. those fears have determined me to write dircetly to you, in order to obtain a quick Justice. Shall I dare to ask you, Mr President, to recommend me strongly to Mr Livingston. your recommendation will indoubtedly animate his zeal and will give me the hope of succeeding in that affair, the most important for me.9 the advantage I have had of knowing you in America, and the interest which you was so kind to bestow then upon me, give me the confidence of obtaining your good will. your humanity will engage you to protect a woman and children who claim only the justice due to them. I will owe you a more happy existence. receive the assurances of the sincere gratitude and profound esteem, with which I am, Mr President, your Most humble and obedien⟨t⟩ Servant
signed. C. Pernot,
formerly—Le couteulx de Caumont.
if you are So kind to honour me with a word of answer, I pray you to direct it under cover
à mr irenée Dupont imprimeur cul de sac de l’oratoire a Paris. he is the brother of our french consul at charlestown.10
Translation, DLC:GW; ALS (in French), DLC:GW. No reply to Pernot from GW has been found.
Born in Romans-sur-Isère, France, Marie-Jeanne-Jacqueline-Antoinette Clouet (known as Antoinette) (1765–1837) married Louis-Etienne Le Couteulx de Caumont in September 1786. Shortly after their marriage, the couple sailed to the United States, where they arrived in December 1786. Antoinette’s husband became a U.S. citizen the following year, and the couple resided for a time in Trenton, N.J., and then just outside Philadelphia. Adversely affected by that city’s climate, Antoinette and her husband sailed back to France in late 1789. Louis-Etienne returned alone to the United States in 1790, leaving his family behind. Antoinette eventually obtained a divorce and later married Paul Sébastien Pernot. As she details in this letter, she attempted to recover money from property she had in America from her first marriage. For an unflattering portrayal of a “Mrs. Le Couteulx de Caumont,” see , 86.
1. There is no record of a meeting between Pernot and GW during her nearly three-year stay in America, but Louis-Etienne, then Pernot’s husband, carried a letter of introduction that the marquis de Lafayette had written to GW on his behalf in October 1786. Also, Louis-Etienne may have delivered letters and seeds to GW (see Lafayette to GW, 8 Oct. 1786, and n.1, in , 4:288–89; see also Morris to GW, 6 July 1790).
2. The “Contrat de mariage,” or prenuptial agreement, between Pernot and Louis-Etienne is dated 6 Sept. 1786 and is at FrPNA.
3. After arriving in the United States at the end of 1786, Pernot and Louis-Etienne rented a house in Trenton before purchasing a plantation located on the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pa., about fifteen miles from both Trenton and Philadelphia. The estate, named “La Petite France” by Louis-Etienne, was advertised for sale by him in The Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia) for 24 Sept. 1789. The 189-acre plantation contained “an elegant and genteel well finished brick mansion house, 45 feet by 20 deep.” The estate’s outbuildings and other amenities included “a wash house,” two barns, a stable, and gardens. According to the advertisement, the farm would be offered for lease unless sold by 1 Oct. 1789. During the couple’s residence there, Louis-Etienne became good friends with Robert Morris, who owned a nearby estate.
4. Louis-Etienne sailed for Philadelphia on 17 Feb. 1790 and later sold “La Petite France” (see 437).
5. Pernot and Louis-Etienne had two sons, William Benedict (1787–1859) and Pierre Alphonse (1788–1866) Le Couteulx de Caumont. William served for a time in the French navy and was a member of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis. Both sons were living in Buffalo by the time of their father’s death in 1840 (see 453).
6. Following his return to America in 1790, Louis-Etienne had moved to Albany by 1795. He was imprisoned in Quebec from 1800 to 1802 and subsequently moved to Buffalo, where he died (see 440, 444, 448, 451–52).
7. On 20 Sept. 1792, the French Legislative Assembly passed a law that allowed divorce in France for the first time. The law named abandonment among the legitimate causes for divorce, and also listed divorce procedures. The decree required a family assembly (“assemblée de famille”) to determine custody arrangements and allowed remarriage after specified periods of time (see , 3:853–58). A law of 23 April 1794 listed additional stipulations to the 1792 decree and imposed fewer delays in divorce procedures for spouses separated for a stated period of time (see , 4:1075–76).
8. Louis-Etienne came from a prominent banking and commercial family, which had prosperous firms in Rouen and Paris (see , 1:75).
9. No letter from GW to Edward Livingston recommending Pernot has been found.
10. Born in Paris, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771–1834) was the brother of Victor Marie du Pont, the French consul for the Carolinas and Georgia at Charleston, S.C., from 1796 to 1798. He was also the son of political economist Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. In the latter 1780s, Eleuthère took a position at a royal gunpowder works in Essonne, France. Around 1791, he became a manager in his father’s Paris printing house, which was plundered by the Jacobins in September 1797. Around 1799, Eleuthère moved to the United States, where he established a powder works near Wilmington, Del.; served as director of the Bank of the United States; and was active in the American Colonization Society. During the War of 1812, Eleuthère became the chief supplier of powder for the U.S. government.
The rue de L’Oratoire, located in Paris’s first arrondissement, had been shortened by three-fourths of its length in the seventeenth century when the Louvre was expanded. The street became known as the cul-de-sac de L’Oratoire (see , 2:199).